Morocco

Domestic cement sales in Morocco came in at over 1.3 million t in March 2014, rising by 8.23% y/y. This marks an improvement on February 2014, when sales dropped by 5.4% y/y to 1.14 million t.

In the first three months of this year, domestic sales volumes declined by 3.18% y/y, falling from 3.6 million t in January – March 2013 to 3.5 million t in January – March 2014.

Canary Islands

Some 36 449 t of cement was sold in the Canary islands in February 2014, up from 28 361 t in January 2014. Cement sales also improved in Lanzarote, rising by 23.9% m/m to 3598 t in February. Compared to February 2013, sales grew by 31.8%. On an accumulated basis, cement sales in Lanzarote in January – February 2014 reached 6502 t up from 4939 t in the corresponding period in 2013.

Portugal

Activity in Portugal’s construction sector continued to decline in 2013, falling by 15%. Within this, the residential sector contracted by 18%, non-residential by 13.8% and public works by 14%. According to FEPICOP, there was an increase in confidence levels in 2H13, in terms of both activity and employment levels. However, this was not enough to offset the problems experienced in 1H13.